Brian Shaw — not THAT Brian Shaw — is a three-time World’s Strongest Man winner who holds world records in deadlift and atlas stone loading.

He also tosses kegs, eats seven meals a day and lives in Denver.

VICE Sports caught up with Shaw to learn more about the life of the World’s Strongest Man. And from what we can tell, it includes a lot of car-lifting, fire truck-dragging and meat-eating (almost four pounds a day!)

From the outside you can’t tell that the gray building in Denver houses the NASCAR Furniture Row Racing team. But then you hear the roar of an engine from inside and you know you’re at the right place.

When you walk through the door, you see the familiar No. 78 decor. The front office is small, and to the right is a picture collage from when the team won its first race at Darlington in 2011.

All the race magic happens behind this office, in the race shop. The 20,000 square feet house cars, engines, tires and a variety of machinery for the car. Furniture Row gets its chassis and engines from Richard Childress Racing in North Carolina. The parts catch a ride to Denver on the Furniture Row store trucks that transport furniture to its Denver stores.

Next time, Danny Trevathan says he’s going to throw the ball to a fan.

Better yet, maybe he should hand it to a fan. Or deliver it to a fan. Or really not let it out of his grip until the points are confirmed on the scoreboard. After all, some of his teammates were already celebrating his pick six on Thursday in the fourth quarter of the Broncos’ 49-27 victory over Baltimore when they realized Trevathan had actually fumbled the ball on the one-yard line.

It was supposed to be a celebration toss. Instead, it was a fumble, and it cost the Broncos a touchdown and Trevathan the first score of his NFL career.

“Man, it was just a little mistake,” Trevathan said after the game. “I think it was kind of selfish. That’s the type of player I am. I’ll take full responsibility, and I’ll grow from it.”

Even after the big win, Trevathan didn’t make any excuses for fumbling the ball just inches before he stepped into the end zone. It stung, but the fact that it came in a 49-27 Broncos blowout win must have helped.

FORT COLLINS — This third annual USA Pro Challenge is turning into a Slovakian folk dance. Peter Sagan won his third stage in six days Saturday on a week-long course so mountainous it scared away every top sprinter in the world. Every one but the Slovakian, Peter Sagan.

He easily won a bunch sprint after 115.2 miles from Loveland to Fort Collins.

“I came here to prepare for Quebec (Grand Prix) and I’ve won three stages,” Sagan said. “I’m very happy and a little surprised.”

He shouldn’t be. Not one of the 129 other riders in this field had ever beaten him in a sprint finish. Then again, this isn’t cherry picking. He has won 17 times this year.

They did try, however. Rory Sutherland, the Australian for Team Saxo-Tinkoff, took the lead with 500 yards to go but Sagan easily caught and passed him to the line.

VAIL — I ran into Bill Walton in Vail Village Friday on my way to the press room and he invited me to sit down so he could talk about his week riding along the USA Pro Challenge. Before each stage, the NBA Hall of Famer rides with the rec team, Carmichael Training Systems, and marveled at Colorado cycling.

Walton primarily came to Aspen to see his son, Luke, get married. But Bill is following the race all the way to Denver.

“I was able to ride every day,” said Walton, a huge vertical scar on his surgically replaced knee. “The bike trail system in Colorado is just spectacular. And generally the cars are incredibly respectful of the riders. You don’t get that a lot. The quality of the roads has just been fantastic. The weather, the people, I’ve just had so much fun and had such a great time.”

Cyclists leave downtown Aspen for Stage 2 of the USA Pro Challenge from Aspen to Breckenridge on Tuesday. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — It’s Stage 3 of the weeklong USA Pro Challenge, and I’m seeing some advantages this race has over the Tour de France. So here are the pluses and minuses the Pro Challenge has with Le Tour.

PLUSES

1. The towns. What? Yes, towns. OK, take Paris out of the equation. I love Denver, but when it comes to architecture, the Eiffel Tower has a wee bit over the Wells Fargo Center. Still, the towns the Pro Challenge race through in Colorado are more scenic. Much of it is because Colorado mountain towns are more modern and richer than ancient villes in France. I’ll take Aspen over Grenoble; Breckenridge over l’Alpe d’Huez. With the Yampa River meandering through this lovely town, Steamboat Springs has a ski pole up on any village I saw in the Pyrenees.

2. Weather. The hottest it has been this week has been low 80s and dry. At night it drops to about 60. It’s absolutely flawless. Saturday’s Loveland-Fort Collins stage is scheduled for 87 but I’m still recovering from the steambaths I’ve experienced in Provence.

Denver's Todd Baxter (24) celebrates his goal as Johns Hopkins' goalie Pierce Bassett reacts during the second quarter of last weekend's quarterfinals. Baxter had three goals during Denver's 14-9 win.

BALTIMORE — Senior attack Todd Baxter, perhaps DU’s most important overall player, will play against Virginia in Saturday’s NCAA Final Four. He practiced Thursday for the first time this week and is set to again work with his teammates in today’s afternoon workout at M&T Bank Stadium.

“I’m much stronger than I was a week ago,” Baxter told me before today’s practice. “A little less tape on my knee, but sticking with the brace, and I pretty much have a cast going on my ankle. It’s stronger.”

Baxter, who is second on the team in goals (31) and third in points (49), suffered a high-ankle sprain and partially torn knee ligament in his right leg on May 7. He missed the May 14 first-round NCAA Tournament game against Villanova and made a gutsy and productive return last Saturday against Johns Hopkins, scoring three goals before tweaking the ankle late in the third quarter. He limped off the field and told coach Bill Tierney “I’m done for the day.”

Some thought he was done for the year.

“The tweak was on the third goal,” Baxter said. “I just stepped wrong trying to stay out of the crease. But no significant damage, just a slight tweak. I’m definitely going to be out on the field Saturday.”

Baxter, from Eden Prairie, Minn., is DU’s emotional leader, and he completes the feared attack trio with juniors Mark Matthews and Alex Demopoulos.

“He’s going to have a big impact, just like last weekend,” junior attack Alex Demopoulos said. “He’s a tough guy and he’s still the impact player he’s been all season.”

Baxter’s return moves sophomore Eric Law back to midfield, where he shares first-line offensive duties with Chase Carraro, Cameron Flint and Jeremy Noble.

Denver's John Ryder, left, hits North Dakota's Brent Davidson during the WCHA championship game on Saturday. (Jim Mone, AP)

Air Force coach Frank Serratore reminded me of something that has occurred for the second time in four years. In addition to getting all three Colorado teams in the NCAA Tournament, Colorado has the most of any state. This two-prong success story also happened in 2008.

“More teams from state of Colorado than the three Ms — Minnesota, Michigan and Massachusetts,” Serratore said today. “Isn’t that something?”

Minnesota had just one school, Minnesota-Duluth, make the 16-team field. Michigan has two — Michigan and Western Michigan, and Massachusetts (after realizing Merrimack is in North Andover) has two — Merrimack and Boston College. New York also has two — Rensselaer and Union.

So kudos to Serratore, DU coach George Gwozdecky and CC bench boss Scotty Owens. Combined, you are more powerful than the proposed Big Ten hockey conference, which, ahem, has just one of its five teams still playing.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — BCS executive director Bill Hancock met with us at Monday’s Football Writers Association of America breakfast and said the current system works and there’s no groundswell for any sort of playoff.

He said under the old bowl system, Nos. 1 and 2 met less than 25 percent of the time. Under the current BCS system, they’ve met all 13 times. Only one problem: On Tuesday morning, we’ll have a Texas Christian team that’s undefeated and just defeated a great Wisconsin team on a neutral field.

Rapids coach Gary Smith is the next participant in The Denver Post's Fan Mail. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

The toast of the town? That’d be the Colorado Rapids, who play FC Dallas for the MLS Cup on Sunday.

“I’m extremely excited and delighted and a lot of other emotions,” Rapids coach Gary Smith said after his team beat San Jose in the Eastern Conference final. “But most important, for the players to be rewarded for the very first time for all of their endeavors.”

DU sophomore goalie Adam Murray has a new helmet and paint job. He incorporates a handful of things in his new lid, including former DU mascot Boone, his pride from being an American hockey player from Anchorage, and his religious beliefs.

The Boone thing has become a goaltending tradition. Correct me if I’m wrong, but former All-American Wade Dubielewicz first started donning Boone figures on his helmet and pads around 2001 or so, after the school came out with that lame “red-tailed hawk” mascot. (Indigenous to Colorado, I remember the school higher-ups proclaiming during the announcement of the silly looking logo. I remember thinking, “Denver Boone is a person, a Pioneer, but what does a red, black and gold hawk have to do with being a Pioneer?”)

Anyway, the kids and many alumni have pushed to get Boone back as DU’s official mascot. That isn’t going to happen, but at least the goalies have been given the freedom to put the little dude on their equipment.

Carmelo Anthony wed T.V. personality LaLa Vazquez over the weekend, but it was Chris Paul's alleged toast that made the news. (Louis Lanzano, AP)

Even at his own wedding, Carmelo Anthony couldn’t escape talk of his contract.

Anthony, who wed T.V. personality LaLa Vazquez at a restaurant in New York City over the weekend, watched a toast by New Orleans Hornets’ guard Chris Paul take the news.

According to the New York Post, Paul allegedly toasted “We’ll form our own Big 3” — in reference to himself, Anthony and the newest member of the Knicks, Amare Stoudemire. This, of course, on the heels of the party of three in South Beach.

Nicolas Mahut of France reacts after losing on the of his 11-hour, 5-minute first round match against John Isner. (Glyn Kirk-Pool, Getty Images)

Well, it sure took long enough. Yesterday, and the sports world, that is.

By now, you may have heard about that marathon of a tennis match. You know, the one that spanned 10 hours, and still needed another hour this morning to finish up.

At 11 hours and five minutes, it set a new record for the longest match in tennis history. By more than four hours. Its fifth set alone, at eight hours and 11 minutes, bested the previous record for the longest match by an hour and 38 minutes.

The USA Today/USA Hockey Mag poll came out today and, not surprisingly, the WCHA had six teams in the top 15. CC, defending WCHA champion, came in No. 5, and DU, defending WCHA playoff champion, is No. 6. Makes sense.

What’s obviously skewed here is this: the top four teams are the same four teams that made the Denver-hosted Frozen Four in April. North Dakota, which got spanked at the Pepsi Center in the semis to eventual champion BC, is No. 4. Last time I looked the Fighting Sioux are in rebuilding mode, having lost virtually all of their top players from last year. Yeah, UND is a recruiting factory, but the Sioux will be so young this season, I’m not sure they belong in the top 8 or so. Anyway, here’s the “rough draft” of how things “might” develop this season:

The play-by-play voice of ESPN’s Thursday night college football won’t need a map to find Boulder – or to get around the University of Colorado campus, for that matter.

Chris Fowler, a 1985 Colorado graduate best known for anchoring ESPN’s College GameDay show on Saturday mornings, will be joined for ESPN’s telecast of the CU vs. West Virginia game by Craig James, Jesse Palmer and Erin Andrews. Read more…

Give Joe Nemecheck some credit. He wrecked Sunday night on lap 67 of the Sprint Cup race at California Speedway, but you didn’t hear any excuses from Joe.

Nemecheck, who earlier in the weekend celebrated his one-year anniversary of driving for the Denver-based Furniture Row team, lost control of his car, overcorrected and slammed into the turn 2 wall. His car was damaged beyond repair and he finished last in the race.

But he didn’t blame anyone but himself and didn’s use the most common Sprint Cup drivers’ excuse, a flat tire.

Nemecheck has qualified for 22 races this year, the most ever by the 3-year-old Furniture Row team and with 11 races to go they are sure to add to this total. On the downside, they stand 38th in points standings, some 400 points out of the magical No. 35 spot that would guarantee them a qualifying position and no more “get-in or go-home” situations.

But, some high finishes down the stretch could change all that and if anyone can do it, Nemecheck can. He’s a real pro and Furniture Row is lucky to have him aboard.

Tourists on Monday visit Tiananmen Square, which is shrouded with heavy smog. Pollution levels remained high just 11 days before the Olympics. The Chinese capital could ban 90 percent of private cars from its roads and close more factories in a last-ditch bid to clear smoggy skies for the Olympics, state media reported. (Andrew Wong/Getty Images)

John Henderson: Yangshuo, China — I was the first member of the Denver Post Olympics team, a threat to no one in any relay but the four-man chug-off, to arrive in Beijing. In fact, I may have been one of the first American reporters. I left Thursday, and when I arrived it looked like the Beijing that I had imagined all these decades. I walked out of the terminal and dawn was just enveloping the city. Beijing appeared masked in a mysterious morning fog. A misty, gray cloak had covered a city that dates back to Genghis Khan 800 years ago.

I kept looking for a large group of elderly Chinese practicing tai-chi, their slow, fluid movements a human poetry against a backdrop of ancient China. I listened for twangy Chinese music and lotus flowers blooming on the sidewalk. Then I peered closer. The silver mist didn’t look so romantic anymore. No wonder. It wasn’t fog.

It was smog.

Folks, Beijing’s air is as filthy as you’ve heard. I arrived 13 days before the opening ceremony. It’s about the time the government started limiting car usage and stopped street construction just so you can walk a few blocks without hacking up your esophagus. Looking at the air quality, Beijing would have to use rickshaws for the next 20 years to clean it up.

Recently I was honored to win the Jesse Abramson Award for excellence in track and field journalism from the Track and Field Writers of America. For those who enjoy track and field I am posting the links to the stories in my entry below. Four were published in The Denver Post and one was a magazine story (Running Times) on Boulder and Eugene, the twin capitals of American distance running.

Below is our Patrick Wiercioch story that made its debut at DP.com Friday. I wanted to make a clarification to online story, add George Gwozdecky quotes and a little commentary.

To clarify, Wiercioch made a verbal to Wisconsin and was scheduled to become a Badger in the fall of 2009. Now, he will replace inactive incoming freshman David Carle (heart condition) and be a Pioneer this fall, using the scholarship originally pegged for forward Stepan Novotny, who decided to play major junior. (DU will honor Carle’s scholarship.)

I spoke with DU assistant Derek Lalonde on Friday about Wiercioch after getting a tip from a source. Lalonde mentioned that DU coach George Gwozdecky has spoken to Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves — the two were teammates on the Badgers’ 1977 NCAA title team — and there are no hard feelings about Wiercioch’s switch.

“We had a conversation, and Mike and I have an understanding of it all, and how we dealt with it,” Gwozdecky told me.

College hockey isn’t like college football. Teams don’t typically recruit a kid after he’s committed to another program. This seems to be a case of simply wanting to play college hockey this fall, instead of waiting another year. Wiercioch took his three official visits to Michigan, Wisconsin and Denver (November), and obviously realized that, minus Carle, the Pios were in need of a puck-moving defenseman.

He phoned Gwozdecky last week and asked if DU might be interested in replacing him with Carle.

“He made it very certain that he really wanted to be playing college hockey in the fall,” Gwozdecky said. “We, along with a number of other schools, wanted him to play another year of junior hockey and come to us in (2009) . . . He called me and said he wasn’t going to play at Wisconsin this fall, and if we were interested . . .”

Wiercioch had a terrific second half of the season for the Omaha Lancers of the United States Hockey League, obviously impressing the Ottawa Senators, who selected him with the 42nd overall pick in June.

“We were well aware of his dramatic contribution to his team and their playoff season,” Gwozdecky said. “He really developed in the second half of the season. Sometimes it’s hard to project when a guy is going to be ready, but we think he’s ready and he’s bound and determined to play college hockey in the fall, and he’s going to be with the Pioneers. So that’s great.”

The commentary is this: Very nice late pick-up by the Pios. A kid of this caliber is so hard to find this time of year, and DU was fortunate to present the ideal opportunity for Wiercioch. Secondly, let’s just hope he turns out better than former NHL second-round D-men T.J. Fast and Keith Seabrook, who both bolted Denver for major-junior long before reaching their potential. Fast left in January 2007 during his sophomore season; Seabrook about six months later after his freshman year.

ONLINE STORY:
The University of Denver hockey team landed a stroke of good luck Friday when Patrick Wiercioch signed a letter of intent to play with the Pioneers next season.

Wiercioch had a verbal agreement to play with Wisconsin. But when DU defender David Carle left the program two weeks ago because of a heart problem, Wiercioch saw that opening and decided to take it.

Wiercioch visited DU in November. He also visited Michigan and Wisconsin and eventually decided to play with the Badgers.

Wisconsin was deep with defensemen, so Wiercioch switched to Denver for a better opportunity for ice time.

DU believes Wiercioch’s arrival is a windfall. He was a second-round pick, 42nd overall, in the NHL Draft, by Ottawa via Chicago.

“I just think it’s a simple case of how much he developed over this past season and his draft status,” DU assistant coach Derek Lalonde said. “He wanted to get his college career going. He was in search of someone and obviously heard of the David Carle situation. We had an opening and are ecstatic and fortunate to find this kind of player at this time of the recruiting process.”

Carle, 18, brother of former DU star Matt Carle of the San Jose Sharks, withdrew from the NHL draft and left the Pioneers after being told by doctors that he has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart that has been linked to sudden death for athletes.

Carle was expected to be taken in the first two rounds of the draft. And he will still attend DU as a student.

The Denver Grand Prix is history (although there’s always a possibility of it’s return), PPIR (Pikes Peak) is closed and the construction of a track for NASCAR Sprint Cup races is still a dream. That leaves drag racing and the NHRA as the only big-time pro racing series still available to Front Range motorsports fans.

Yes, Bandimere is not the most comfortable place to watch the drags. It’s outdated for sure. Water and sewer issues exist and it’s always hot with little relief available for most fans. But, I believe the Bandimere folks have done the best they can to cope with these problems. They created the Top Eliminator and Quarter Mile clubs to provide more fan comfort (for a price, sure, but at least they are available). Water stations and cool down areas are in place and although portalets are no treat, at least there is no shortage of them.

Other tracks I’ve visited (Topeka and Ennis among others) are way ahead when it comes to creature comforts,
but Bandimere is locked into a unique location which can’t expand or upgrade and obviously its days are numbered. The family has tried to move and I’m sure efforts continue. But for now, it is what it is and most fans seem to accept that and are willing to endure the situation for a chance to experience professional drag racing.

Don’t ask me for an objective view of the situation. I love the drags and no amount of discomfort would keep me from attending.